The drone fired two missiles at a vehicle in a compound near Miranshah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal region, a stronghold for Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants, security officials said.

"Hakimullah Mehsud is dead," a security official in Peshawar told AFP.

Three local intelligence officials in Miranshah confirmed the death, while a senior Taliban source said Mehsud was killed in the strike along with his bodyguard, driver and uncle.

Mehsud's death came a week after Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif urged US President Barack Obama to stop drone strikes which usually ended in civilians’ death.

The attacks are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, as the government has repeatedly protested against drone strikes as a violation of its sovereignty.

Mehsud took control of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan after a bitter fight for the leadership after a US drone killed founder Baitullah Mehsud in August 2009.

North Waziristan is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions along the Afghan border, which Washington considers to be a major hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.

NJF/NJF